The Ballard baseball team's successful season came to a screeching halt on May 9, when the team lost their second playoff game.

The team had the best batting statistics in the league and went to the playoffs for the first time in five years.

Coach John Lamm reflects on the season:

"What a fun ride and what a special group of kids! We set a goal to make the playoffs and we accomplished it. They should be and I think they ARE very proud of that. It was great for our seniors to experience the playoffs and for our young players to get a taste of that atmosphere.

It was like a roller coaster ride, we had some highs and some lows this season. With players of this age that is to be expected and I started to look during pregame to see which one was Dr. Jekyll and who was Mr. Hyde today? We ran the scope with big wins over Newport and Woodinville and winning the City Championship to sucking up one run losses to Bothell and losing both playoff games. The boys were consistent in one thing however, they never gave up in a game or on their teammates.

Several times this year Dr. Jekyll would show up for one bad inning where we just couldn’t stop the bleeding. The Garfield Game was a great example of this. We were up by 7-0 in the 5th and we walked a couple, threw a ball away 4 times on one bunt play and then a home run and the game was tied. We came together and my seniors said “we will not let this happen!” Brendan Foor hit the first pitch that inning out and we won 13-7. Many teams would fold after that kind of inning but not this one.

Being a fairly young team on the field much of our success has to be credited to our seniors who led them. They bought into our practice schedule and worked hard. Some seniors who were non starters led by staying positive and helping out in practice. This is not easy as a senior but again, I was fortunate to have a quality group of unselfish young men this year. After losing our number one pitcher, Danny Thompson, to an elbow injury, our team looked to our two senior offensive leaders, Oliver Guarino and Brendan Foor. Not only did they put up All Kingco numbers they had a knack for the big hit to spark our team when we had a Dr Jekyll type inning. This put Sophomore Joe Jacabson into the number one slot and face some tough teams. He kept us in many games that our bats pulled out later.

Many of our players had good years and for a coach sometimes the best ones are the ones you don’t expect. Junior Caleb Jaeger was Glue at the end of the game and got many of those “ come back” wins and saves. He had 5 wins and 4 saves on the year. Junior Nelson Cooper who put in a ton of off season work went from a JVC player to JV to varsity and hit very well for us. We always tell a young man if you don’t like where you are, prove us wrong! Nelson proved me wrong and then some. Sophomore Ryan Kangas also known as “The Hanger” had a fantastic season at the plate and at shortstop. He has a very bright future. Also Sophomore Rory Graf-Breenen was our lead off hitter and led the team with an .471 on base percentage.

I think this group of young men will look back and will be very proud of this season. To the group of young men who have been with us all three years, you should know that we would not have been able to turn this program around without their efforts. As a new coach I want to thank my seniors for what they have done for the Ballard program. To all our returning players, we got a taste and I am proud to be your coach."

Coach Lamm

Achievements in statistics:

- Danny Thompson hit .429 in limited at bats. He had an ERA of 2.83 with 15k's in 17 Inn.
- Nelson Cooper hit .370 with 7 RBI, 4 doubles and one HR
- Caleb Jaeger had a 3.15 ERA and had 4walks to his 17k's
- Rory Graf-Brennen hit .372 and with 5 Doubles

The above players received honorable mention for all Kingco.

- Ryan Kangas hit .388 with 6 RBI, 3 2b, and a 3B. As a Sophomore he received 2nd team all Kingco at Shortstop. He also made only one error this year.
- Oliver Guiarino was Selected 1st team All Kingco as an outfielder. He hit .409 with 13 RBI, 7 doubles, a 3B and a HR. His overall offensive stats ranked him 3rd in Kingco.
- Brendan Foor was selected to 1st team All Kingco at the utility position. He hit .417 with 10 RBI, 5 2B, a 3B and a HR. His overall offensive stats ranked him 5th in Kingco. Also Brendan only struck out once in league play.
- Both Brendan and Ollie were selected to the top 10 team and will both play in the Feeder game on June 2nd at Woodenville high School.